THEN CAME AMALEK

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AMALEK (allow two to three hours for this lesson)
(give credit to Ian Thomas for these principles)

Read Galatians 5:19-26
Here we have a contrast of the spirit against the flesh.
How would you define flesh?
If you belong to Christ, what have you done with your flesh?

Romans 6:6 our old self was crucified with him

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ—Christ lives in me

John 12:23-25 unless a kernel fall and die it does not produce seed (fruit)

What is produced when we crucify the flesh? (fruit)

How does God feel about the flesh?

He hates it! Malachi 1:1-4 Esau I have hated.

The Old Testament has several symbols that represent the flesh—
Esau, Edom, Mt Seir, Amalek (We’ll be talking about Amalek in a few minutes.)

Read Genesis 25:27-34

Why do you think God hated Esau?

God hated Esau because he denied his birthright. This was more than his father’s inheritance. Rather, he gave up the privilege of the Messiah being born through his line of descendants.
Jacob became the spiritual leader of the family. It should have been Esau, since he was the oldest. However, Esau had no interest in spiritual things.

Esau’s character is that of a self-sufficient man, a man of the woods. He was hairy. The impression we get is that he was a man’s man. His attitude was, “I don’t need anything from God. I can do without all this religious garbage.”

Obadiah 1-6
This brings out the spirit of Esau. “you say to yourself, who can bring me down…”

(Edom is mentioned here with Esau because the nation Edom came from Esau’s descendants.)
Remember, this was also Satan’s attitude—pride.

PRINCIPLE: God can do nothing with someone who will not admit that they need anything from God.

The hardest person to reach with the gospel is the self-made man.

Why did God love Jacob?

At first glance, it is not apparent. In contrast to Esau, he was fair skinned, not much manly hair. His name means “heel-grabber.”
He lived up to his name—a swindler.
Genesis 32:24-31
Yet, when he wrestled with God, God asked his name, and he told him. He was given a new name. He was honest before God.

PRINCIPLE: If we recognize our sin before God, he will give us a new name.

What was your name before you made your peace with God?
It could have been one of many possible names:
Liar, Cheater, Prideful, Murderer, Addict, the list goes on and on.

Let’s look at Esau’s descendants.
Genesis 36:8-12
Amalek was Esau’s grandson.
Genesis 36:31 Esau’s descendants reigned before any Israelite king.

PRINCIPLE: The flesh precedes the spirit.

Cain before Abel
Ishmael before Isaac
Esau before Jacob
Saul before David

And we are sinners before being redeemed.

Read Exodus chapter 17 in total

Amalek had some encounters with Israel. Remember Amalek is a type of the flesh.

What does the rock represent?

I Cor 10:3-4 tells us that the rock was Christ

Just at the time their thirst was quenched—“then came Amalek”

How many times have you had a tremendous spiritual encounter with God, only to go to work the next day and have great temptation from the flesh?

PRINCIPLE: Great temptations or doubt follows great spiritual victory.

You might as well plan on it. If you know it’s coming; you can prepare yourself.
How can you prepare yourself for spiritual warfare?


Let’s look at how Israel achieved the victory: verse 11

The victory was God-given. They did absolutely nothing to win the battle, except—receive the victory.

PRINCIPLE: Victory over the flesh is God-given.

PRINCIPLE: The battle is already won. We merely need to receive the victory.

How many times do we as Christians walk around with our hands down? We simply need to raise our “hands” as did Moses, and receive. Christ is victorious in us. We do nothing in ourselves to achieve righteousness. We don’t even have to pretend effort. In fact, any attempt on our own is in the flesh.

Victory is a three legged stool: an attitude of spiritual warfare (the soldiers); our hands up (Moses); and supporting one another as they supported Moses.

PRINCIPLE: By walking in the Spirit, we have victory over the flesh.

Galatians 5:16 “…live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Our attitude should be one of letting Christ through us. We need to have total dependence on Jesus. We need to recognize that the victory comes through Jesus, and give God the glory. We do not take credit for our own efforts. This is the opposite of the Esau spirit. This is humility.
There is tremendous mental freedom if we do this.
It is ours to have, and we should pursue it until we have the victory.

Notice verse 16. God is continually at war with Amalek.

PRINCIPLE: God will always be at war with the flesh.

Deut 25:17-19 Remember Amalek—they must be destroyed. They attacked you when you were weak.

PRINCIPLE: The flesh attacks us when we are down.

Being aware of this, we should strive to remain victorious and strong. That means such simple things as getting a good night’s sleep, eating right, staying on task. (My mother used to say that idle hands are the devil’s workshop)

Let’s look at Amalek’s encounter with King Saul.

I Samuel 15:1-3
Samuel reminds Saul of the scripture in Deuteronomy and gives the Lord’s command: utterly destroy.

To us, this seems a rather clear-cut command. However, what has God told you to destroy? Has it been an issue?

Read through verse 15. Saul had a problem.
He took it upon himself to interpret God’s will to suit his own desires.
He kept the best of what God hated.
Have you ever been there?

How many times do we attempt to compromise with the flesh? We say Saul was stupid.
We can say that, but we see the whole story.
What is God telling me today and I’m reinterpreting his Word?

PRINCIPLE: God allows no compromise with the flesh.

Anything we hold back, God says “give up.”
The “flesh” doesn’t necessarily refer to something nasty.
Anything we hold back—it can be different for each person:
A hobby that compromises our time; the right to marry; questionable TV habits; the list is endless.

Do you have things in your past that you have given up; but at first you tried to bargain with God? (share)

Read the remainder of chapter 15.
Look at verse 20. Saul attempted to justify his decision.
“But I did obey…”
What does the Bible say about our righteousness?
(our righteousness is as filthy rags)

PRINCIPLE: Any attempt to be righteous in our own strength or effort is totally unacceptable to God.

Saul said …but I did obey… the soldiers saved the best…we will sacrifice.

PRINCIPLE: When confronted, the flesh attempts to justify itself.

Saul thought he had superior judgment to God.




Ian Thomas says:
“It is a stroke of satanic genius, and one of his most ancient devices, to persuade you piously to dedicate to God all that you presume to find good in the flesh which God has condemned.”

Here is an example: I’ll just keep my tavern and give the profits to the church. Or, I’ll go ahead and buy that lottery ticket, and give half to God if I win. Those are extreme examples, and often the issue would seem harmless to someone else.

Verse 22 and 23
God rejects Saul as king.

Saul’s death is recorded in II Samuel 1:1-8 (read)
Killed by an Amalekite, who took his crown.

Revelation 3:11 Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

PRINCIPLE: The flesh can rob us of our crown.

God rejected Saul, and he will reject those who hold to the flesh.
John 15 talks about unfruitful branches being cut off.

Esther 3:1 Amalek shows up again to fight the Israelites. Haman was an Agagite (descendent from the king of the Amalekites)
Israel was challenged by the flesh once again.

Do you remember how Esther waged war?
--Through prayer and fasting.
Can we win against the flesh by doing any less?